CHAMPCAR/CART: Lola Cars Laguna Seca race notes

Max Papis scored an astonishing victory in the feature race of the Honda
Grand Prix of Monterey featuring the Shell 300, coming from 25th on the grid
to win the timed event of 76 laps, originally scheduled for 83 tours of
Mazda Raceway at Laguna...

Max Papis scored an astonishing victory in the feature race of the Honda
Grand Prix of Monterey featuring the Shell 300, coming from 25th on the grid
to win the timed event of 76 laps, originally scheduled for 83 tours of
Mazda Raceway at Laguna Seca, Monterey, California.

Using exceptional pit
strategy to move through the field, Papis called for service five times
during the contest and bested 25 challengers for his third career Champ Car
victory and second of the 2001 season. "We didn't have the fastest car, but
we had the best pit strategy," Papis explained. "We attacked all race long.
Last to first takes lots of will and a little bit of luck. We believed in
ourselves and I told Mark Johnson [Team Rahal director of operations]
we could pull something special out of this. I simply focused on what I
could
do to achieve our goals."

Papis dedicated his victory to fellow Italian Alex
Zanardi, as did Firestone, which accomplished its 100th victory since
rejoining open-wheel competition in 1995.

Papis was followed to the checkered
flags by Memo Gidley in the #12 Target Lola/Toyota, who started 23rd after
he
overcame a pit fire on lap five of this race. "I felt the heat over my
shoulder but I wasn't going to stop. I was told to keep going and I wasn't
about to let the fire catch up to me," the Californian said. "Sometimes you
win by starting up front and sometimes you win from the back when you have
good strategy. That's what happened with us these past two weekends," he
grinned.

Gidley finished third last week in Houston. Bruno Junqueira added a
seventh-place finish in his #4 Target Lola/Toyota to the Lola tally and
Christian Fittipaldi notched ninth place points in the #11 Kmart Blue Light
Special Lola/Toyota. Kenny Brack failed to finish the event yet still holds
second place in the title chase with two races remaining. He trails Gil de
Ferran 179-153 going to Australia in two weeks, where the Swede brought his
#8 Shell Lola/Ford to third place last season.

The weather played a large
part in the event, which was punctuated by eight caution flags, all for
contact or off-circuit excursions. Firestone engineers reported ambient
temperatures between 85-89 degrees for this October afternoon, while track
temps ranged between 108-117 degrees.

The series reconvenes on the Gold
Coast town of Surfers Paradise in Queensland, Australia, for the Honda Indy
300 on October 28th.